Laramar
by Dark Inu Fan
Summary: Sometimes being part-troll comes with surprises (some better than others). pt 3 selkie au


"Ok… so… what am I looking at here?" Toby's disembodied voice came from Claire's phone as she panned the camera around to take in the landscape.

"I want you to play 'spot the troll'." She couldn't help but release a small giggle, trying to make her camerawork as smooth as possible.

"Well… There's Blinky- Hi Blinky!- talking to Aaarrrgghh. I know, because Aaarrrgghh's in my room and I can hear parts of what they're saying." Blinky looked over at his name and waved a free hand, still talking rapidly on his own phone, gesticulating excitedly with his third hand.

Claire hummed in acknowledgement, moving her camera back out into the blank white of New Jersey's first snowfall of the year. Shivering, she adjusted the blanket wrapped around her shoulders as well as she could without shaking the camera. Under the trees there wasn't much to really speak of, but there were drifts that were up to her knees in places. "And _our _troll?"

"Uh…" She had to admit, it was a little unfair, between the light being too low for her camera to pick up much and having a hard time tracking Jim with her own eyes. Mostly, she was tracking her ridiculously tall boyfriend by listening to his giggling and galumphing through the snow. The occasional snow shower from a shaken tree helped also.

"Yeah, that's not fair. I can't see him either anymore. Here, let me get him. -Jim! Toby's on the phone!- There he is." She made sure to point the camera in the correct direction as he rushed up and got unnecessarily close to the camera, panting and grinning wide.

"Heeyyy Tobes!"

"Woah! Back up there a bit Jimbo." Toby sounded a bit startled as Claire made sure more than just Jim's eyeball was filling the screen, reducing the zoom and also taking a few steps back. "What kind of troll catnip weed whatever did Blinky give you?" Up close, they could see that Jim's pupils were blown wide and that he couldn't stand still to save his life.

"Blink didn't give me anything. But have you ever seen anything so beautiful?" Jim grinned, gesturing all around him.

"Aren't you cold?"

"Nope, not at all. This feels great!"

"I am!" Claire piped up, shivering in emphasis. "And I have no clue why you aren't. Even Blinky grabbed a poncho when we came up." while trolls lived in a typically cooler environment, they were more tolerant to hotter temperatures than cooler. It was barely cold enough for snow, but they had lived in southern California their whole lives, and the trolls since before California was a state. Blinky had even admitted to preferring the heat himself.

And then there was Jim, who was known to wear sweaters when it dipped below 80 degrees when he was human, currently in snow-encrusted blue basketball shorts and nothing else and absolutely loving it.

"You sure you're not cold?" Toby asked, a little skeptical. "You're, uh, looking a bit pale there, Jimbo. Like larimar instead of sodalite going on there."

"Most aren't. Jotunn." Aaarrrgghh peered over Toby to look at the screen and the boy absently adjusted it for the troll to see better.

"Yes, I had assumed so for a while now, but with the first snowfall, I am pleased to see my hypothesis proven true." Blinky had finished speaking with Aaarrrgghh privately, so had shuffled over to be part of the children's conversation as well, throwing the edge of his cloak around Claire in the process. The girl was looking a bit blue-lipped, and wouldn't last much longer before going back inside.

"Jotunn… like the Norse frost giants? Angrboda and Laufey, _those_ Jotunn?" Blinky blinked arhythmically, caught by surprise.

"I do not believe that I had you read any books on Jotunn history, but I could be mistaken…" he murmured, cut off by Toby's peal of laughter.

"You probably didn't, but Jimbo's a huge mythology nerd. Especially Norse." With his paler stone color, it was easier to see the color rise in his cheeks as he looked away.

"I just, really like some of the stories, ok?" Jim muttered defensively. "Besides, they're _myths_. Gross exaggerations from what really happened, even if they were based on real people at one point in time."

"Yeah, because we all know that trolls don't exist to steal socks and Dragons don't hoard gold." Jim could feel Toby rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, some are more the mineral over metal type anyway."

"Tobias does have a point." Blinky cut in before the boys could continue. "While human 'mythology' does have some level of exaggeration to one degree or another, I have found that most stories keep true to their original script. The two that you mentioned, Angrboda and Laufey, are indeed two of the Jotnar clan that garnered names for themselves in the wider world. In fact, I believe the Jotnar clan had quite a few interactions with humans before the Gumm-Gumms started coming into power."

"Mate. Breed." Aaarrrgghh reminded softly, letting Blinky do the majority of the talking.

"That too." Blinky nodded with a grimace that he did not cover up quite quickly enough. "It was also long suspected that some clans, such as the Jotnar and Huldur, could have relations with humans and produce viable offspring. Which implies good tidings for your futures, Master Jim, Fair Claire, if you were to reach that point in your courtship." Jim could swear, Blinky enjoyed making the two squirm when he could. He couldn't be that oblivious, could he? "That is also part of why we had narrowed down what clan your troll attributes had come from. Because it is easier to draw from something than to create from scratch. Even a few drops of blood from a hundred generations ago would still be better than nothing."

"If Jimbo's part Frosty the snow-giant, How come he looks like you… most of the time?"

"Ah, that would be because of dear grandmother Gryla the Grim, I'm afraid. Married into the Galadrigal clan at one point. Dictatious takes after her more than I really care to admit, though we both got her coloring."

"Gryla, as in mother of the Christmas Lads and the one that eats naughty children?"

"..." Blinky opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again. "I don't know about the 'Christmas Lads' part, but we do have quite a few uncles on her side of the family, mostly adopted. And, yes, she was known to have a fondness for young human meat." Blinky grimaced and Claire went a bit grey. "How-"

"_Nerd!" _Toby cackled. "When I said he liked mythology, I meant he _really liked mythology._"

Jim couldn't really defend himself, so he shrugged instead. "I was bored. I've done a lot of research about Jotunn. Go far enough in-depth into the mythology, _everyone_ knew someone that was at least part-Jotunn. Like Greco-Roman mythology had everyone descended from the titans."

"Which is another breed of troll, which was far less likely to breed with humans, but did occasionally happen. Gatto, its rumored, is a fire-based Jotun. While most trolls maintain a size of the majority of trolls in Trollmarket, there is the occasional troll that gains enough elemental strength to earn the title 'giant'."

"So the Jotunn in the stories that were specifically called 'frost giants'-"

"Would have likely been larger than their average clanstrolls, yes."

"Ah." Casually sitting in a snowbank, he really did blend into his background very well, only his shorts and charcoal-grey horns stuck out with any significance. Even his hair, now that Jim was sitting still, Toby could see had turned bright white, and it wasn't just the snow frosting it over.

"As interesting as this is." Claire shivered once again, her fingertips holding her phone steady having gone numb. "I'm cold. And I'm going back inside. Jim, do you want to come back inside, or stay out here a bit longer?"

"Hmm?" Jim pulled his head up from relaxing in the bank a little too much. "I think I'm going to enjoy this weather for a little longer."

Standing up, Jim came over and brought his hand up to touch Claire's cheek, ready to give her a peck on the lips. "Master Jim, I wouldn't do that if I were-"

"Ah!" Claire yelped, pulling away suddenly and into Blinky's embrace.

"-you. Oh, dear, let me look at that."

"What-what happened?" Claire turned her face up for Blinky to see.

"Just a touch of-"

"Frost bite." Jim murmured, looking at his hand like it had betrayed him.

"Yes," Blinky hummed, inspecting Claire's cheek. "I was afraid of that. Not too much damage this time though, just a nip that'll heal up in no time." Blinky patted her uninjured cheek and turned her toward the cave entrance, swinging his poncho around her shoulders. "Now, head inside and warm up. We'll be along in just a few minutes, and then I can whip up a soothing poultice for you. I wish to talk to Master Jim for a moment."

"Yeah, ok." Claire agreed in a small voice, pulling the cloak tighter around her shoulders. Her hand hovered over the injured cheek with a complicated half-smile on her face. "I'll talk to you later, then."

Watching Claire walk away, Jim sank into a crouch, pulling on his horns and letting out a low whine. "Master Jim." He flinched away the first time, but the second Blinky caught him firmly by the shoulder with his bare hand. "Come, stand up like a proper young troll." He murmured, using his other hands intentionally to help the boy stand up. "There we go." Pulling him in, despite trying to pull away, Blinky gave him a hug. "Now-"

"I hurt her, Blink."

"Yes." Blinky nodded matter-of-factly. "Yes, you did. And now we know to be careful. But, this is not the end! No, far from it. Control, Master Jim, as always, is the key. You may not be able to turn this ability on or off as you would your amulet, but you can learn the signs and what environmental factors that would trigger your cooling touch." Holding out all four arms for them both to see, Jim saw that Blinky's stone skin was a few shades paler where he had touched his mentor, but unharmed "Though it can be a bit more difficult to control as a part-Jotunn, it is possible."

"Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, I did not inherit the majority Grandmother Gryla's abilities, though Dictatious did. I am limited to a higher tolerance to cold than I am normally willing to admit, and the ability to function in said cold. The changed stone color, I will admit, is more of a side-effect than an ability, though not near as extreme as yours." Blinky raised one of Jim's hands, showing off the palest blue-green-white his skin had now become.

"Is it permanent?" Jim rasped, taking his arm back and staring at the skin.

"Highly unlikely, though we will not know for certain until you are either in a warmer environment, or spring starts. Let's hope for the first, for the sake of your and Fair Claire's relationship. Then again, they do say that abstinence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Absence, Blink."

"Though abstinence makes more sense, I would think, in this case. Since we are talking about your ability to _touch _Fair Claire in the upcoming months."

"Yeah, I get it. No touching Claire any time soon."

"More like, being extremely careful touching any of your human compatriarts- and some of our more fragile troll ones- while you resemble a snow-cone, lest you give them a more extreme case of frostbite than our dear Claire currently suffers from."

"Ah, yeah." Jim took a deliberate step back and wrapped his arms around his torso.

"I said careful, not to cease entirely." Blinky once again stepped into his foster son's personal bubble. "Cloth, as rudimentary of a barrier as it is, as with sunlight, does a wonderful job protecting fragile skin from otherwise disastrous effects."

"Like." Jim made a few vague gestures with his hands. "Wrapping an ice pack in a tea towel?"

"Precisely, Master Jim." Blinky smiled. "Though I find in cases of Jotunn touch, a simple pair of well-made gloves do wonderfully. They do not have to be thick, but enough to cut down the immediate effect. Kid gloves were a favorite accessory of grandmother's. The thin leather was enough to prevent accidental touching, but didn't hinder her tactility in everyday life."

Jim nodded, mentally trying to figure out where he would get a pair of gloves that weren't mittens. He didn't exactly have normal human-shaped hands any longer. On one, he only had three wide fingers, and all of his nails were thick black near-claws. "But that is a worry for another day." Blinky slapped Jim's back, guiding him back to the cave entrance. "For now, I would suggest wrapping Dear Claire in a good thick blanket before giving her cuddles, yes?"

* * *

"Claire, are you ok? What happened?" Toby's voice snapped Claire out of her thoughts. Pulling the phone up, she switched it to the selfie screen so that they could see each other.

"Sorry, I forgot you were there."

"No, it's cool." Toby waved off, "What happened?"

"I'm… not really sure." She admitted, her hand hovering over her cheek. It was pink, with a greyish tinge separating it from the usual cold flush on her cheeks. It was an odd numb, but feeling was starting to come back after coming in from the weather. "Jim just touched me how he usually does when we go to kiss. How bad does it look to you?"

"Not gonna lie sister, but that looks like it hurts. If it doesn't form a blister, you should be good though." Toby winced sympathetically. "If what Jimbo told me about Jotunn is true- and from what I'm seeing, it is- some of them have the ability to instantly freeze anything they touch. You'll both have to be careful."

"Yeah…"

"Hey, no. We're already gonna have a mopey half-troll on our hands, we don't need you to start in on it too. It was an accident, right?"

"Yeah." And, if she was honest, it wasn't currently all that painful, just mostly the shock like getting a salted ice cube dropped down the back of her shirt. "So what do you suggest."

"Blanket." Aaarrrgghh spoke up with a firm nod. "Stop accidental touch."

"So… I should probably find someplace else to sleep until we figure this out." Claire grimaced, mentally trying to figure out where else she could crash for… however long it would take for them to overcome this hurdle.

"You stay." Aaarrrgghh pointed at the screen. "Jim nest with Blinky. Both Jotunn blood."

"So how did you deal with it, Big Guy?" Toby turned toward his roommate, accidently turning the screen askew.

Aaarrrgghh grinned and pulled Toby's blanket from the bed and covered himself with it. "Many blankets. More in winter with snow." Aaarrrgghh nodded to himself, pulling Toby to cuddle.

"See, no big problem, Claire Bear. Now's that excuse to get the thickest, warmest electric blanket you can find… Not that you really needed much of an excuse. I heard it's cold out there right now, and here I am, sitting at a brisk sixty-five! If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're bluer than Jimbo right now!"

Claire shivered and huddled into her puffer jacket and two ponchos, glaring at her phone. "I hate you so much right now."

Toby just gave Claire a shit-eating grin and reached to turn off his end of the call. "Stay warm. And keep me updated on how things go with the cuddling situation!"


End file.
